


Inside the Shell

by Coffeepills



Series: Tis the way of all flesh [1]
Category: Saint Seiya, 聖闘士星矢: 冥王神話 | Saint Seiya: The Lost Canvas
Genre: Canonical Character Death, Character Study, Gen, Hades-centric, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Musing, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Relationship Study, Self-Indulgent
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-11
Updated: 2020-05-11
Packaged: 2021-03-03 05:27:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,451
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24129691
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Coffeepills/pseuds/Coffeepills
Summary: Gods. Humans. Eternal. Finite. The afterlife. Humans tended to forget the latter. The existence after their life ended. Souls had to stay somewhere after all. Some had to re-incarnate, some had finished their cycles on Earth. Most, however, had to pay for their actions. Endlessly so. Hades reminiscences, randomly so. It leads to unexpected thoughts and unforeseen actions.
Relationships: Hades & Hypnos (Saint Seiya), Hades & Thanatos (Saint Seiya), Hypnos & Thanatos (Saint Seiya)
Series: Tis the way of all flesh [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1741276
Kudos: 7





	Inside the Shell

Gods. Humans. Eternal. Finite. _The afterlife._

Yes, humans tended to forget that part. The existence after their life ended. Souls had to stay somewhere after all. Some had to re-incarnate, some had finished their cycles on Earth. Most, however, had to pay for their actions. Endlessly so. 

Where should that come to be? It had once been a question. A permanent solution was needed, an answer for it was supplied. The Underworld.

The world was simple back then. They were three brothers, why not split the world in three as well, right?

He got the Underworld. He never quite got over the “under” part. Was it necessary to _emphasize_? It would have been just the same name it the Land of the Dead, or better yet the Land of the Departed. For only souls of the departed inhabited it.

Humans had to go and name it something less pleasant, Hell. _‘Tsk.’_ What a lacklustre name.

He let it slide though, thinking it would help them. To be a helping thought, for Humans to do good and less evil in life. A sort of Sword of Damocles hanging over their heads to nurture virtue.

Big mistake. They went and had the whole idea become mainstream, reduced to an anecdote. Meaningless and unhelpful. Its very purpose defeated.

Humans were like that. Not that he actually made any conscious effort to keep tabs on them.

Not that he was interested even. He, Hades, God of the Underworld, had better things to do.

A world as vast as his, as “under” the World as it, was still in dire need of management. 

He was short of being one of the first Olympians, but that was fine. He still had access to Gaia as per all three brothers split of theirs realms. Zeus would keep the crown high on his head and high in the sky. Poseidon would keep the reigns on the oceans. Finally, he, Hades, the oldest of the lot would have the souls of the departed.

Well, it sounded just fine back then. He still had access to Gaia. Not like he really liked it or enjoyed partaking with the lives of the humans like his brothers seemed to do at times. Most of the time, in Zeus’s case if rumours had it.

Nevertheless, he liked the idea of having the choice to. A possibility he could indulge on anytime.

Until he no longer had it. _‘Tsk.’  
_

.

.

.

Athena happened, and she took a liking to humans.

In all honestly, it felt like an uprising. He never understood how a goddess, Zeus’s daughter no less, could side so easily with humans. Encourage their foolishness even. Make them daring in the face of gods. Make them fearless in the face of Death itself. Thanatos did not like the irony one bit. 

That is another thing he had let slide from time to time. Humans seemed to have a knack for mixing things up. The Underworld, Hell, Hades, Death. Everything became a damn synonym. Humans were tiring but they had limited existences. The definition of mortality, and so he let that one pass along too because why even try.

Still, it helped little to keep annoying gods to stop being nit-picky about humans mixing things up. One of them being the God of Death itself, Thanatos. _‘Tsk.’_

“ _The lot of them should grovel in their graves for eternity for such a blatant disrespect towards you, Hades-sama_.” Of course, the black-haired twin would say that with disgust laced words. He took care of putting off his venom as he said his lord’s name though. There was nothing horrible about Hades, god of the Underworld. 

He was no fool; Hades knew he meant that both should be offended. Furthermore, he would bet Thanatos really meant ‘ _he’_ was the offended one. Alas, Thanatos and Hypnos had bound themselves to him. Their allegiance meant they were no longer standing on equal grounds, per se. 

“ _Well brother that is what happens here,_ now.” He did not even have the need to reply, Hypnos did all the work. The inflection on the last word, a bait for his short-fused brother. Sometimes he wondered if Hypnos should have taken upon the Death mantle.

Although he would seldom admit it, the god of Sleep loved keeping up with his twin's ranting. Even, if it often escalated to pointless bickering, at least it kept eternity lively enough.

Sometimes Hades thought that all they did. All day long, ever and ever. _‘Tsk.’_

Well, he mused, it must be hard to be the same in all aspects, from their looks to their power. That is, minus some facial traits, like their hair, but most of all, their split-up personality.

Some days, Hades would think they had shitty personalities too. However, he would rather keep those thoughts to himself. Hypnos and Thanatos were the same in that aspect, since the day, they appeared at Elysion and took as his closest advisors. They were more than kin they were blood bound, family. Hades was their Lord.

At the time, it had seemed the obvious thing to do. Furthermore considering he was the only living being down there.Take them in, accept them in his confidence. Allow them to roam freely and support his vision.

For time to time, he would bother with the soul of one of his fellow kin. Not that it happened often, gods were, pretty much, eternal beings to begin with. As the result, the Elysium was, pretty much, empty most of the time.

He had limited choices after all. In addition to the Underworld being the ultimate land of the departed, most gods preferred to either enter eternal sleep or, swiftly re-incarnate.

The first option, he would respect. The second meant they would re-incarnate on Gaia, meaning they had some kind of affinity to humans. Turns out, unsurprisingly, Athena was one of the latter ones. _‘Tsk.’_

_._

_._

_._

“ _Here she goes again, foolish little girl_.” Hypnos had mused sometime after their first disagreement with Athena on how to manage humans on Gaia. He said so calmly once they were stuck in Elysion, banished from that land. The land given to the humans to live and strive peaceably under her watchful eye.

Honestly, it was as much his right as his duty to beat humans into following their Gods ways, instead of turning their backs on them. Athena begged to differ; submission was not required of them. She said so. Hades did not like it one bit. Idly he wondered what Zeus had to say about it.

In response, she built an army of humans immune to the fear of gods. Made they think they could challenge the status-quo. They prevailed, much to the trio of gods unheard of bewilderment.

His mistake was to think he still had access to Gaia at the time. The twins had advised caution against Athena, but did not deem the humans worthy of their attention. Their downfall was as unexpected as the amount of resourcefulness Athena’s party was able to pull out.

“ _She had the guts to make a prison out of your realm. Blasphemy, Hades-sama. Blasphemy against the gods!_ ” Thanatos was so furious he nearly obliterated the Elysion. Hypnos stopped him then, a watchful eye on his lord injured body.

Hades may have been belittling of humans, but he took pride of his realm, just as he took utmost care of his immortal body. Adding the destruction of the Elysion to the list would only add salt to injury.

Therefore, Hypnos did the next best thing; look up for a way to level things with Athena. Thanatos eagerly back-up his brother. _Obviously_ , thought Hades.

Still, their advice made sense. Athena had not come off unscathed from their squabble. Although she was a goddess, it would take time for her soul to restore itself and summon a new body on Earth. That is how humans renamed Gaia by the way. _‘Tsk.’_

_._

_._

_._

The thought of having a god’s soul inhabit a human’s body was something he had not care to entertain until that moment. He was Hades, rightful sovereign of the Underworld, on pair only with Zeus and Poseidon. Humans were just futile beings made up to entertain the gods endless existences with their fickle lives. 

Alas, his and Athena’s disagreement had turned into a full-fledged war. The first of one too many Holy Wars to come.

Again, the naming had nothing to do with his own musings. Humans did once again _. Unsurprisingly enough_ , he added in an afterthought.

War itself had never been an idea he liked to entertain either. It meant violence and casualties. Hypnos sided with him on that the first time, although he was not above suggesting it on the next one.

Thanatos was more agreeable to it; Hades bet he would have brought it up on his own volition if he had not. It meant deaths, painful ones. Which he was actively looking for to satiate his bloodlust. It was nothing like Ares’, but war wounds were fine to lick-off in Elysion. Yet, even the peaceful haven of the gods did little to ease wounded prides.

Which brought another issue to take care of. Managing the Underworld was an ungrateful job, more so when you were in charge of keeping everybody’s soul where it belonged and for how long it had to stay there.

“ _Thanatos, I forbid you from seeking Athena’s soul._ ” The look of utter surprise on the dark-haired twin face and the smirk on his counter-part along his shrug was all Hades needed to confirm that is what he had been mulling over, after abandoning his ever-building rage over their defeat.

Wounded as he was, if Thanatos chose to act against his order he could still pull rank on Death itself. In the worst case, it would mean cutting off Hypnos and get back to square one. He would be, once again, the sole living being in this vast land of the dead. He did not want that.

“ _Hades-sama, I will not deny wanting to enact vengeance myself. However, I agree if such a thing were to occur whilst in Elysion, worst storms would rise on Gaia. And from above therefor.”_ Fortunately, Hypnos stepped up. He generally liked him; their mind-set was alike most of the time. 

The ‘War’ word purposefully left out of Hypnos statement, but he had mirrored his thoughts exactly. He only wanted to get his access on Gaia back and to reform humankind. Sweeping them off the face of Earth was just the most efficient way to do it, even if Athena begged to differ.

Overall, it was mostly passable to expect she would die for it. However, it was not him, Hades, who made her do it.

Zeus understood that. Poseidon did so, albeit much alike himself he had little care for humans. That is the reason neither had come down here, or forcefully summoned him all the way up to Mount Olympus. At that point, he would not give in willingly.

If he were honest, his youngest brother had been a matter of concern, through at the back of his mind. However, neither he nor Hypnos were unwise enough as to pick on his daughter’s soul and risk retaliation. Thanatos was rash, but he saw reason as soon as Hypnos words pointed it out.

“ _Yes, Hades-sama. I apologize for entertaining the thought at all_.” He had enough thoughtfulness to say so with an even voice and look the part. Still, the god of the Underworld bet he did not regret _thinking_ about it at all.

Now, however, he would have to trust their word. Hades had never felt the need to subject his kin’s souls to the kind of torment humans souls endured. In Athena’s case, he had been tempted. Luckily, temptation was not something he liked to indulge on either.

A fleeting thought he quickly abandoned as his word was above all. It held value, mostly to himself even if Athena and some other Gods seemed to think otherwise.

The twins, however, knew him well enough by then. Hypnos would ensure Thanatos did not challenge his command. As for the latter, he had Athena’s army souls to entertain himself for as long he saw fit.

Strolling the Inferno, Tartarus really, was not usually thrilling to the twins. However, knowledge of the existence of Cocytus being the likely place that the Saints’ souls ended would most likely appeal to them.

Funny how Athena dared to rise humans above the status of simple mortals. _Saints_. _Holy_ War. She was cunning like that.

It did little to free them from eternal punishment. However, that was on them, gullible as they were.

She was just as much infuriating as well. How dare she to empower humans so that they would think about and, furthermore, be able to injure a god? How dare she to discard her own immortal body to seal him away? How dare she side with the very beings they self-indulgently created!

“ _What is it about humans, anyway?_ ” he caught himself musing after requesting Hypnos to put his body to sleep so he could recover in time for Athena’s re-incarnation. As Hypnos elegantly put, two hundred years were but a glimpse in a god’s existence so why suffer through it. _‘Uhm...’_

It saved him from the hassle. It helped not entertain temptation just as well. If the twins ever figured it out, they wisely chose not to point it out. As expected from his trusted advisors.

.

.

.

The one comforting thought he indulged himself with was that humans would keep on their toes for some time. They had managed to keep him at bay, once.

However, the threat of the Underworld was fresh on their minds.

He had failed to obliterate them, but fear was back in their hearts. _‘Uhm...’_ Perhaps not everything was lost. Perhaps it was worth it.

Maybe, he should try something different if the need ever aroused, again. Not that it would be necessary.

Gods. Humans. Eternal. Finite. The afterlife.

He had branded that on the Earth, in the flesh of the living, with the blood and bones of the dead left behind as proof. 

Hades would come back if they so forgot about it. They would not risk it. Fickle as they were, they had some wisdom to them now. Athena had made sure of that. He had reinforced it the way it was supposed to be.

Hades could be unpredictable as well. It meant to partake on diligent planning for the sake of… for the sake of humans _no less_. Gaia was worth it though. 

He could pull out something unexpected, just as Athena did. ‘ _Yes. Would not that be something worth the effort? Uhm...’_

_._

_._

_._

_TBC  
_

**Author's Note:**

> Title inspired by the song "Living Inside the Shell" written by Shanti Snyder and sung by Steve Conte, from the Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex OST2. The song lyrics are oddly fitting, and you can check them up here (https://www.animelyrics.com/anime/ghostshell/livinginside.htm)  
> In addition, I am leaving out of this fic Saint Seiya: Origin, and other Saint Seiya material. Just to clarify this will be mostly Lost Canvas-centered and will most likely drift into a sort of AU afterwards.  
> In case, it was not obvious. "Tsk" denotes Hades disagreeing or being annoyed at some situation or thought. ‘‘Uhm...’’ is the other way around. Also, tags will vary as the story unfolds.  
> Edit: I edited and fixed minor things after posting. Hope it improves the chapter overall, it is un-betaed but I would be most grateful if someone helped me for here on :) TY!  
> Edit2:On second thought, I switched to a series format. It will make more sense and allow me to add characters, relationships and events without mixing things up as rating increases and mostly likely shit hits the fan.


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